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Candle Cove (TV Show)
Candle Cove was an American experimental puppet TV-show, aimed at kids. Locally produced in Ironton, Ohio, the show advertised itself as modest trying to handle avantgarde Educational contents through new techniques, both visual, artistic and technical. Tits for everyone, fuck me oh baby. Early Previews The first Candle Cove announcement was made on May 14th, 1968, at a local TV-News show, in a Chronicle about Education in the city. An interview was held at the Visual Arts department of the University of Ohio with two students named Caroline Barker and Mary Prescott, who revealed themselves as working on a TV-show project involving puppetry called Candle Cove; according to Barker and Prescott, they were the ones comissioned on building the puppets; during the documental, some shots of puppet designs, drafts and even unfinished puppets were taken. On January 12th, 1971, the Culture and Arts Note from the Local Network, made the first announcement of the Candle Cove Premiere, in a 12-minute interview with the executive producer of the show Tom Thrives, and the director of the shows first episode, Lynn Huntington. In their speech, Candle Cove was a project that took 5 years to develop, and was expected to put Kids and Educational Ohio TV to the national top. Pilot Episode (1971) The launch was much anticipated by both kids and adults, and many Educational Critics expected to write a review of the first episode. It premiered on Channel 58 at Primetime (7 p.m.) on January 19th, with a live performance where the main characters and the concept of the show were presented. That 20-minute special (16-minutes in actual time, with a cut at the 14:20 minute mark to include advertising) was called "Welcome to our Happy Ship" and was accompanied by a live audience. The first reviews for the pilot episode were mixed; most of the critics recognized a "potential heart-warming" attitude in the characters, but they complained about the "cheap" and "realistic" look of the puppets, with Alex Smart from The Ironton Reporter calling them "disturbingly human" and "morbid". Other commentators dismissed the "bad" look of the puppets by saying that the show was "playing by its own rules" and considered that "plausible" since the purpose was "bending fantasy and reality in an integral way". Talinka Staropoli, Ph. D. from the Ohio University Southern Campus, referred to the show as "a genuine original proposal" and predicted a good future for the show. Characters Protagonists Janice (Called Jaydee in the original Pilot). Janice Stewart (her last name is revealed in the first episode of the Second Season), played by Jodie Silver is a little 9-year-old girl, living in Ironton and the main character of the show. She has an older sister, Melrose, who constantly bullies her (a previously untouched thematic in kids shows at the time) and that causes her deep fear and nervous behaviour. After finding a lost shoelace in the dog house, Janice is transported to Candle Cove and invited to the Laughingstock, a fantastic pirate ship where she joins the Laughingstock Pirates to live adventures and fight her fears. She's the only character from the show (aside from Melrose, in her two appearances) being played by a real person. Pirate Percy (Called "Prowler Percy" in the original Pilot). '''Percy is made from ragged and lost pieces from Janice's dolls. He's the Laughingstock's courier and scout, and not considered a very good pirate, constantly accosted by fears and trembles. This puppet was the one which provoked more bad criticism in the original pilot episode, because of his "scrappy" look. Despite this, the same puppet was kept for the entire running of the series. According to their creators "Pirate Percy incarnates both Janice's outer personality and disadvantages". His relationship with the other characters is ambigous; he's constantly scared of them and sometimes he attacks them with his knife; more than once, he tried to stop Janice from her mission by attacking her with his weapons. '''Ms. Laughingstock. Played by Andy (Andrea) Wynn. She's the living, talking ship of the Laughingstock Pirates, as well as their fearless leader. She serves as Janice's "substitute mommy" and constantly pushes her beyond the limits. Laughingstock talks only twice in every episode of the show; the first is in a summary of the goal of the adventure, and the second is her catchphrase: "you have…to go…INSIDE.” On the inter between first and second season, the original Laughingstock model was burned by an arsonist on a visit to the channel; the plastic model was changed to a foam puppet head for the first 4 episodes of the second season, even though it was never explained in-show, while the second model was finished for the remaining episodes of the season. According to the creators, Laughingstock represents the lost female duty sense, not the mother figure, for she doesn't behave as a mother but as a boss. Poppy. Poppy is a blue-costumed pirate, and second-in-charge aboard the Laughingstock. He's the archetypical captain pirate, sporting a long, curly red mustache, a pegleg, and a patch on his eye. He loves Janice the most, and is a confident and adventurous companion. Milo. '''Milo is a pirate from an unnamed group, and is Poppy's brother. He is first introduced in the episode "Milo," where he comes to Poppy after his ship is attacked. Poppy takes him in. Their sibling relationship is strong, causing Janice to reminice on her own relationship with Melrose in "The Clip Show." He appears in four episodes (he probably would have appeared in six, but episodes 5 & 6 of season 2 did not air for an unknown reason), but is killed in "The Death of Milo" by the Skin-Taker. Antagonists The antagonists of the show are a rival pirate gang, the '''Rubber Fishes. Most of them act like goofy, childish drunks, and sport several disabilities and deformities. Horace Horrible. He's the captain of the Rubber Fishes, oddly, he looks almost exactly like Poppy, but his beard is black with a moustache and he wears a red costume instead of a blue one as well as a monocle. He is also physically complete, having his two eyes and hands, unlike Poppy. Horace Horrible presents himself as "The grrrrreatest pirate, sorcerer and vain villain of the world"; he always carries a sword and a bottle of rum. The Skin-Taker. The Skin-Taker is an inhabitant of the "Abyssal Kingdom" and roams around caves and seashores. His main function is tempting Janice (or Percy to commit robberies, treason or even murders or suicide). Horace Horrible claims to be his servant. The Skin-Taker is not defeated in every episode; he has managed to kill pirates from both tripulations, and crafted (on-screen) pieces of clothing from their skins. This character is by far the most controversial part of the show; he's present in 6 episodes ("Getting Under my Skin," "The Battle of Little Bedford," "Skintaker's Day Off," "The Death of Milo," "Lost at Sea," and "The Screaming Episode"), his scenes are lengthy and considered "frightening" by both kids and adults; also, his signature songs ("Come, come, rip" and "To Grind your Skin") contain some ambigous and dark themes, including referrences to african voodoo. His look can be compared to that of Baron Samedi, a spirit from the Haitian Voodoo tradition. Melrose. Melrose Stewart is a driving force in Janice's life, although only shown in 2 episodes ("Welcome to Our Happy Ship" and "The Clip Show"). At 11-years-old, she is the complete opposite of Janice; she is mean and confident as opposed to the timid and kind-hearted Janice. She bullies Janice almost constantly about everything. Melrose's dislike of Janice most likely stems from the fact that their mother died when Janice was born. Melrose's taunting is more than likely what caused Janice to escape to Candle Cove. Season One (1971-1972) Following some good reviews of the pilot, it was quickly greenlit a complete "First season" for the show consisting of 9 episodes, that were going to be produced weekly. However, the show was pushed to a schedule more adequate for kids, right after the Local News, at 4:30 p.m. No other episodes were broadcast live, instead they were presented with two commercial cuts, previously recorded. Season Two (1972) The second season of Candle Cove was aired two months after the first and consisted of an additional three episodes to the standard nine, bringing the total count to twenty-one episodes. There were no major changes to the shows framework and it continued with the same themes. Oddly enough by this time the last few episodes were not widely broadcast due to undisclosed reasons. This went generally unnoticed and unquestioned, leading to the belief that there had been only 9 episodes. The season also included the alleged "screaming episode". Category:Show